Back in November, Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash talked about how fast he wanted his team to play.

“Some of it is trying to push in a direction where we play early,” said Nash, evoking notes of his 7 Seconds or Less Phoenix Suns. “We attack and try to get into the paint and if it’s taken away we move it, play on the second side so that we’re not just playing against a loaded defense all night.”

But his 2021-22 Nets didn't really play that way early on. Led by a combination of Kevin Durant and James Harden, the team wound up being pretty methodical. Now with the blockbuster Ben Simmons-James Harden trade, things get a makeover and another chance for Nash and co. to push the pace.

Simmons spoke to the media for the first time since the trade on Tuesday and discussed just how he envisions playing and fitting in with this Nets team, hinting he'll play a key role in playing fast.

“I think it's just staying aggressive,” said Simmons about his new Nets role. “Playing to my strengths and that's being a playmaker, making the right plays, setting my guys up, and then defensively obviously locking down who I need to lock down. So I'm excited to get in the flow with these guys, incredible team, incredible talent, so, super excited.”

Simmons even mentioned a few names specifically, all shooters, he enjoyed playing with in the past.

“I think I try to compare it to my early seasons with JJ Redick, Ersan Ilyasova, and Marco Belinelli. I think we were playing, I think we were playing the Nets in the first round, oh, Miami in the first round, and just the way we were flowing and playing.”

Playing with a spread floor with lots of passing is what Simmons is looking to do now.

It's a pretty funny Freudian slip to mix up the Miami Heat and his new Nets team, although he did demolish Brooklyn when the teams met in the first round of 2019, hence his mistake. Simmons put D'Angelo Russell in jail in that one:

“That's how I know how to play basketball,” said Simmons. “I'm a team player. I like to see everybody scoring, contributing in whatever way they can, and that's the way you gotta play to win. So if you wanna be a winner you gotta play with all the guys on the floor and use everybody's abilities and maximize the abilities that everybody has.”

Here's a bit of what he's referring to:

Nets GM Sean Marks talked about Simmons' Swiss Army knife potential following the trade deadline. He kept it close to the vest about whether or not they expect Simmons to be the primary ball handler. Obviously, it's not ideal to take the ball out of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving's hands, but it's starting to sound like the Nets have in mind a breakneck pace led by an arsenal of capable dribblers.

“Regarding being a primary ball handler, that discussion to be quite frank I haven't had with Ben,” said Marks, who added he wasn't worried about it. “The luxury we have is we have several players that could serve a role as a primary ball handler. … We're certainly very excited about the pace with which Ben can bring to the team, the defensive ability, the ability to guard arguably 1-through-5 positions if need be, the elite passing ability he has, the finishing at the rim, getting into the paint and finishing, so those are some things that we're excited to see.”

Steve Nash has said he doesn't need Simmons to shoot much. Nash loves that Simmons can do so many things on a court with “brilliance.”

Simmons' comments Tuesday are intriguing because they might give Sixers fans more information about at least some of the reasons he wanted out of Philadelphia and seem to tease clues about how he wants to play now. Maybe he felt they weren't maximizing everyone's potential in Philly under Doc Rivers, when they geared the entirety of the offense toward Joel Embiid's post-ups and isolations. Most of those half-court sets relegated Simmons to the “dunker spot.” Maybe Simmons missed the chance to play with lots of shooters during some of the awkward Al Horford-Embiid seasons too.

Now Simmons has Patty Mills, Seth Curry, Joe Harris (if he comes back this season), Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving as passing targets. It's a spacing paradise, and Seth Curry already mentioned Monday that he hadn't played with so much pace in a while. Bruce Brown also praised the new vibes within the team after the trade, so this could be quite the speedy and “scary” makeover.

If Simmons has his way, it'll only get faster from here, regardless of who's bringing the ball up.